


Sunlight

by Bronstiel



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Also I wrote this before I did the hidden truths DLC please don't kill me guys, And maybe Severa/Owain ? Maybe., Background Gerome/Inigo, Multi, Slight Canon Divergence, also unrequited Owain/Inigo (if you squint), definitely not me, i guess, or everyone's super best friends who knows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2016-09-05
Packaged: 2018-08-13 04:26:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7962364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bronstiel/pseuds/Bronstiel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He watched the sky and enjoyed the sun as it shone down upon them. The mythical kingdom Owain told them about was in constant nighttime from what he’d heard.</p>
<p>How he would miss the sun.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sunlight

     “Will you come with me?”  
     Owain was a lot of things, but he was never a liar. The sun shone around his hair like a halo as he stood over Inigo as he sat on the grass, blanketing his face in shadow, but Inigo could still see the white of his teeth as he smiled. It wasn’t the usual wide, alluring smile that was almost constantly stretching his lips- it was smaller, less hellish but more earnest. With the sunlight streaming around them, Inigo was left blinking, eyelids fluttering, not even able to discern Owain’s hair colour at the moment.  
     “What did Severa say?” He was stalling, and Owain knew it. But he allowed it, nodding his head and shuffling around to sit by him on the grass. Inigo could now see his face, watch the soft skin warm under the sun, the hair wave in the breeze, the blue eyes stare right back into his own.  
     “The usual.” Owain laughed, and Inigo felt his own lips twitch as he watched the other boy throw his head back, chin tilting up as the rich sound of laughter rang through the air. “ _Why would I want to come with you and Inigo?_ ” Owain mimicked, raising his hands and pressing his knuckles to his head, flicking his fingers out, and Inigo let out a soft chuckle as he realised Owain was miming Severa’s pigtails. “ _Why aren’t there any more girls?_ ” Owain shut his eyes and screwed them up, the freckles on his cheeks standing out in the sun. Inigo knew that Severa was just being difficult, that the it could only be the three of them, that they couldn’t ask any of the others. That they couldn’t, even if they wanted to.  
     “ _Why would I-_ ” Owain’s mouth snapped shut, and he opened his eyes again, meeting Inigo’s own, the teasing fading. “Why would I leave my life behind for this?” His hands dropped to the grass, and he immediately thread his fingers through the green tendrils.  
    Inigo watched him for another moment before sighing and laying on his back on the grass, spreading out and shutting his eyes. The day was warm and the breeze whispered across his skin, tickling his nose and wafting his hair about his closed eyes. He loved this time of year- where the sun shone all day, the sky a rich shade of blue, the birds whistling in the trees as his mother danced by the river. The wind was always warm as it gusted through his hair as they soared through the sky, his fingers not even cold but he clenched them tight around Gerome’s hips anyway, Minerva cawing into the sunset as it washed the sky with orange light, sweat still warm and sticky on their skin as they landed, the salty taste rich on his tongue-  
     He opened his eyes to the sky. “So she said yes?” He murmured. Severa knew it wasn't Owain she would be leaving her life behind for- it was divine intervention to save another world. But Inigo doubted Severa would refuse Owain anyway, Old God be damned- what had his name been? _Anankos_.  
     Owain began shredding grass, cropping it by the handful and making a pile on his knee.  
     “Only if you did.” Owain sighed. Inigo tucked one arm behind his head and rested the other on his stomach, stretching his hand out so he hyper-extended his digits, straining for a moment before letting his fingers relax. He watched the sky and enjoyed the sun as it shone down upon them. The mythical kingdom Owain told them about was in constant nighttime from what he’d heard. He would miss the sun.  
     “Did you know _soleil_ means ‘sun’ in Rosannian?” Inigo told Owain, relaxing his back against the grass, moving his hand off his stomach to run it through the blades. The was a moment of silence as Inigo stared at the sky.  
     “Did Gerome tell you that?” Owain asked, and Inigo felt Owain watching him, his eyes burning a hole into the side of his face. The sounds of tearing grass stopped as Owain stilled his hands against the dirt. Inigo’s cheeks prickled with heat.  
     “Gerome tells me a lot of things.” He answered, and his mouth tasted bitter, his chest heavy even with the warm breeze wafting around them. Cherche had raised Gerome with Rosannian as his first language, although Gerome never picked up the thick accent that Cherche and Virion both carried with pride.  
     Inigo remembered when they were children, hiding behind his mother’s leg as he watched Gerome be collected from playtime by his own mother, her long red hair swirling as she reached down to lift her son. She stopped to speak to Olivia as they exited at the same time, and Olivia lifted him up in her arms to mirror Cherche’s hold. Inigo immediately hid his face in his mother’s hair. He had never spoken to Gerome before, because Gerome was older and played with the bigger kids- Kjelle and Laurent and Lucina. Severa sometimes played with them too, but she mostly hung out with Inigo and Owain and Cynthia, playing in the mud instead of with books. His eyes teared up as he saw Gerome watching him, and he gripped his mother’s hair tighter.  
     “ _Bonjour_.” Gerome piped up suddenly, interrupting his mother, although she did nothing but smile. His eyes were wide and watchful as he gazed at Inigo, his little fists curled as he clung to his mother’s collar. Inigo shrunk back as far as he could go in his mother’s hold, but he couldn’t move far, and he felt Olivia rub his back comfortingly.  
     “ _Bonjour, Gerome. Comment allez-vous_?” Olivia asked, and Gerome switched his gaze to her, smiling. Inigo remembered a spike of jealousy- how did his mother know what to say, how to hold his attention without embarrassment?  
     “ _Bien_!” Inigo watched as Cherche whispered something, and Gerome nodded. “ _Merci_.” He added, and Olivia grinned.  
     “Such wonderful manners, Cherche.” Olivia said, and they parted ways after a few more pleasantries, Gerome babbling away to his mother in Rosannian about his day as they left. Although Gerome didn’t speak any Ylissean yet he still played with the other kids normally, young enough that verbal communication wasn’t necessary for friendship. Inigo remembered watching them leave, and he remembered watching Gerome every day since.  
     “I know this is hardest for you,” Owain said when he realised Inigo wasn’t going to elaborate. “But…” He heard Owain sigh, and he turned his head to look at the younger boy. Owain met his eyes with eerie calmness, and Inigo felt his heart tearing in two. Owain opened his mouth, thought about it, and then shut it again. He smiled, but it wasn’t a happy smile like before. It was filled with self-pity.  
     “You know, I’m scared of bridges now.” Owain said after a beat. Inigo watched him silently. He remembered that night- though he tried not to. The wind roaring through their ears, Brady clutching Argent and Sable in his hands. Yarne was so scared he had surpassed trembling, but he was being so brave, his knuckles white around the beaststone he gripped. And then Owain. “ _I almost cut that bridge down._ ” He confessed to Inigo later, in the depths of the night, both of them so tired they couldn’t sleep. They hadn’t lit a fire, and Owain’s eyes were almost white in the moonlight.  
     “ _I wouldn’t have let you be alone._ ” Inigo had shut his eyes, screwing his eyelids tight. He didn’t want to talk about this, this dark thought, the fact that if it had come down to it, Inigo wouldn’t have even thought twice about sacrificing himself for the others. The silence stretched and he thought maybe Owain for once had shut his mouth when, through the darkness, he felt soft fingers touch the back of his hand where he had it curled into a fist, tucked against his chest.  
     “ _I would have been grateful to spend my last moments with you._ ”  
     “I’m not too fond of them myself, anymore.” Inigo answered, heart thudding painfully. He didn’t like thinking about the past. The future. Whatever it was.  
     “I need you with me, Inigo.” It was whispered, falling from Owain’s lips as quietly as a gust of the warm wind around them. Inigo realised it wasn’t calm that was leveling Owain’s eyes; it was desperation. “Please.”  
     He untucked the arm from behind his head. He lowered his eyes and watched Owain begin to shred grass again, one blade at a time between his thumb and forefinger.  
     His chest was heavy, but he didn't let it show on his face. The sunshine was heavenly and a bird chirped in the distance. The air smelt of springtime and he felt the memory of love caressing his skin. How he would miss it here.  
     He touched the tips of his fingers to the back of Owain’s hand. He knew the Mark of the Exalt was on his forearm, hidden by the sleeve of Owain’s traditional Chon’sin swordmaster robe. “I’d never let you go alone, Owain.”  
     “You know we may not come back.” Owain was already hiding his smile in his sleeve. He picked at the pile of grass on his knee, beginning to shower Inigo with it.  
     “I know.” Inigo answered, returning his gaze to the sky. He wrinkled his nose as Owain tipped the last of his grass shreddings onto his chest, but a smile was tugging at the corner of his mouth. “I’m going to enjoy the sun while it lasts.”  
     He felt Owain shift beside, standing back on his feet. “I’ll go let Severa know. My gratitude is yours, Inigo of the Azure sky.” Owain wasn’t worried anymore, and he had slipped back into his old way of speaking. Inigo waved him off. He had a lot of thinking to do. His heart was heavy, but he was sure in his decision. No country deserved to suffer war like theirs had.  
     But for now, he would stay in the sunlight a while longer.

**Author's Note:**

> I want to stress that I wrote this before I payed the Hidden Truths DLC and as I know the events are different now, I'm still posting this bc why not?
> 
> And a bit of the bridge talk that Inigo and Owain have is based off their support in Fates.
> 
> Also please forgive my French- I used google translate.  
> And in case you didn't pick up on it I assumed Rosanne was the equivalent of France so.


End file.
